Posted on 11/28/2001 7:31:29 PM PST by Jim Robinson
Free Republic has had one helluva run over the last five years or so. We helped impeach one president and helped get another into office. We've been active in demonstrations and protests in nearly every city across the nation. We've participated in conventions, petition drives, activism campaigns and projects for dozens of conservative causes.
We've grown from a tiny web site with a few hundred posters and readers from the time of inception in 1996, to one with tens of thousands of participants today. Along the way we've made lots of great friends and, unfortunately, also made lots of bitter enemies.
We've grown from a small web site that I could manage myself on a part-time basis to a huge monster that has totally consumed all of my time and resources plus nearly all of John's time, plus the time and resources of many dedicated FReepers who volunteer or contribute large amounts of their own time and money.
The site is now consuming all of a 10 mbps dedicated line with two servers and we're still growing, and it consumes large amounts of money to keep all this running. In the early years, it only took a few thousand dollars per month to keep Free Republic on the air, but it is now costing over $20,000 per month to cover all expenses.
The major costs include approximately $8,000 per month for bandwidth, 3,000 for systems management and programming services, 7,000 for management, operating and administrative services, plus two or three thousand per month for miscellaneous office expenses, telephone, communications, repairs & maintenance, travel & lodging, postage, rentals, insurance, legal fees, accounting fees, etc., etc.
We anticipate a reduction in bandwidth costs next year as we renegotiate our contract (the market price for bandwidth has fallen recently), however, that will be more than offset by an expected increase in costs of our legal expenses. As most of you know, our pro bono attorney has left us and we've hired a new attorney to continue with our case, plus we have the suit against eschoir to pay for. My projections are that our regular monthly expenses for next year will be running in the neighborhood of $22,000 per month, or approximately $264,000 total for the year. This means we will need to raise approximately $66,000 per quarter.
Talking about making enemies, we've got several ex-FReepers and other detractors who are claiming on their anti-freeper web sites that I am ripping off the donors and that Free Republic is a fraud. Now, Free Republic is what it is, and it is definitely not a fraud. It is a conservative news discussion forum that encourages participation in politics and activism projects. It is not being billed as anything else. We are not selling or promising anything. And I am being up front about our operating costs. The costs of running Free Republic are what I've stated above and they are necessary to keep FR on the air. I do not have the financial wherewithal to operate this site without your help. If the majority of the FReepers feel that these costs are out of line or too much to bear or that Free Republic is no longer wanted or needed, then we will either cut it back or shut it down or do something altogether different.
I've also been criticized about not making our financials public. Well, the reason I do not want to do this is that I have been sued, both personally and as Free Republic, LLC. The people suing us want to bankrupt us and shut us down. They subpoenaed our financial records, but we refused to turn them over. The judge agreed that the plaintiffs have no right to the information, thus I have no intention of making any more of it public than I absolutely have to, until this lawsuit is resolved. You all know the amounts of money we raise if you follow the fundraising threads. It is all above board and out in the open. The totals posted by BadJoe are usually pretty close to the actual cash received and the amounts expended are pretty close to the amounts projected. No one is getting rich here and no one is being ripped off. The funds raised are being used for the purposes stated, and that is keeping this website on the air and that's it. Nothing fraudulent about it. Those who want to help fund us freely do so with nothing expected in return. Those who do not want to contribute do not have to.
There was a thread running this morning where people were making all kinds of accusations about Free Republic "hiding the truth" or whatever. These accusations are being made by Chuck Allan and others and fall along the same line with the accusations being made by some of the earlier banees or AFers including Mojo, Inspector Harry Callahan, Arator, keep U.S. Sovereign, TKEman and others. Some of these people are existing FReepers and some are banned. I am going to reinstate Mojo, Inspector Harry Callahan and Arator's accounts so they can join Chuck Allan, TKEman, K.U.S.S. and whomever else wants to get involved, and I invite them to come onto this thread and make their accusations public. As long as they do not go onto other threads and make a nuisance of themselves, I will let them have their say.
Like I said above, if it is time for Free Republic to go away so be it. Those who want to keep it going speak up. Those who want it to go away, tell us why. But if those who want it to be gone lose out in the debate, then I'd say they should just go away themselves, or, in the very least, shut up and quit whining about it.
Thanks,
Jim
Dues, subscriptions, etc., I'll happily pay!
I can not even imagine life without FR--the thought is too horrible to contemplate.
Freepers, it each of you would send just a few bucks to keep it going, we wouldn't have these problems. We are not talking about people needing to make huge donations (although that would be nice--LOL)--but since there are tens of thousands of us, a few bucks from each one would go a long way to keeping FR in the red.
I have learned that a monthly withdrawal from my credit card is a painless way to give--and I don't even have to remember each month to send it in. I recommend this method.
Thanks, both Jim and John, for all you do. Please know that you are loved and appreciated.
(And I'll admit I can't help thinking of him as the richest man in town. Working from home as member of some hugely successful Father & Son team to boot.)
What he should do is split the forum so he can load with ads or charge a "cover" for threads like Bikini-clad Babe Sick of shaking it with Santa ... wants a Nice Boy from Free Republic and make money off the FReeper rec room and bar where there would be no copyright issues associated with the posting of vanities and such that run over 700 posts.
have you seen any ads??
Hiya Willa!
I'll gladly pay a monthly fee for the privilege to post on this forum. Perhaps you guys could come up with a system to let anyone post a comment on a thread, but only members who pay can start a thread? Well worth it IMHO. Or maybe someone who pays gets a little gold star next to their screen name? Whatever it takes.
The idea that this forum may not exist is simply impossible to comprehend.
You have a check in the mail.
I am most curious though, being in the computer field, where the costs are going. I grasp your initial disclosure here on keeping two servers and a 10Mbps pipe active, but to me that is not that big of a system or pipe.
It would be nice to have a group of tech-heads on this forum (and last look there are a lot of them) to go over the transaction rates, pipe costs (glad their coming down), server loads, server costs, software makeup, etc.
Perhaps that is already being done, perhaps it can be done better.
I know that "too many cooks can spoil the broth" but I also know that "another pair of eyes is always welcome" (or something like that ... gotta get a new book on age-old sayings ... ;-)
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